Seattle rally highlighting coal train concerns

SEATTLE — The Sierra Club organized a small rally on Seattle’s waterfront Saturday to highlight concerns local business leaders have about plans for new coal trains along Puget Sound.

Trains already carry coal from the Rocky Mountains through Washington state for export through British Columbia, but proposals for five more ports would ship as much as 140 millions of tons of coal a year from Montana and Wyoming.

The tracks through Seattle run between the waterfront and Pike Place Market, and the business owners say the heavier train traffic would increase traffic congestion and make it harder to get to the waterfront.

Lauri Hennessey of the Alliance for Northwest Jobs and Exports says the export projects, like the waterfront, are about jobs and trade.